The Measure of our Success

The number one New York Times bestseller—from the founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund

"This book is from the heart of a woman who practices each lesson she preaches."—Hillary Clinton

The Measure of Our Success is a compassionate message for parents trying to raise moral children, a tough and searching book that ought to be required reading for everyone.

Edelman speaks powerfully to her three sons about the mothering she gave them—mothering, she explains, that could not ignore other people's children who were in greater need.

In the book's centerpiece, "Twenty-Five Lessons for Life," we're invited to listen as a loving and extraordinarily committed mother gives her children lessons to live by.

The Measure of Our Success is an open letter to all America, and remains a timely message of hope and purpose for everyone.

"...at once a celebration of family, a benediction to the young and an invocation to the nation's conscience...above all, an utterly moral work--an utterance of faith and courage in a time of cynicism and despair."   Jonathan Kozol

Marian Wright Edelman, civil rights activist, lawyer and author, is the founder of the Children’s Defense Fund which has sought to bring the plight of children to the attention of policy mkers and the public, and has been a vigorous advocate for the creation and funding of programs to improve children’s lives for over twenty years.